Somehow, in a few paragraphs in this column, I need to justice to one of the most spectacular sporting spectacles I have had the priviledge of witnessing.
Building up to last week’s WHK Oceania Track Cycling Championships, there was a feeling we could see some great action but we could never have predicted the world class performances that were laid down on the boards of the ILT Velodrome over four incredible days and nights. We watched New Zealand’s elite dish it out to their Australian counterparts all week and lower record after record with apparant ease.
The questions on who will go to London have not fully been answered. BikeNZ now has the unenviable task of sorting through the swag of personal best and NZ record times to work out which combination of riders gives it the best chance of reaching its publicly-stated target of four Olympic medals.
To have seen the Men and Women Team Pursuit combinations go as quick as they did, this early in the season is a wonderful sign. Alison Shanks, Lauren Ellis and Jaime Nielsen went within 0.2 seconds of the world record while Jesse Sergent, Marc Ryan, Sam Bewley and Aaron Gate blew their previous best to pieces and were only 2 seconds shy of the fastest time ever recorded in the world.
The international cycling community has quickly sat up and taken notice. These were the fastest times recorded in these events this year. It’s fair to say, if it wasn’t already, Invercargill has arrived on the world track cycling stage.
Times of this standard are without doubt the best form of advertising we could hope for and it adds yet another selling point to bring riders down under for next year’s Junior World Track Championships. We know Southland will put on a great competition, we know that riders, their families and supporters will be welcomed and looked after like nowhere else in the world. And now we know that world class times will also be registered during competition. We could promote the virtues of bringing the family halfway around the world for the ultimate southern New Zealand experience until the cows came home, but if the perception was we would have a dog of a track which riders would crawl around in sub-zero temperatures then we’d be pushing it up hill. This week we’ll be directly contacting every national federation around the world – and the times from last week’s champs, will be front and centre.
In all the record-breaking feats of last week, one of my finest memories was the performance of Cycling Southland’s Tom Scully. He came within half a lap of the Scratch race title and then powered his way to wins in the Madison and Points races. The finish to the Points race was particularly special – Scully and Aaron Gate going at it pedal stroke for pedal stroke all the way to the line. Tom is one of the good guys and he is back to his very best.
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